Conference Agenda (All times are shown in Eastern Daylight Time)

Session
Brenda Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology: What has been achieved and why it matters now?
Time:
Thursday, 11/Dec/2025:
5:00pm - 6:30pm

 Virtual location: Virtual

Presentations

Brenda Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology: What has been achieved and why it matters now?

N. K. Agarwal1, C. Urquhart2, M. Olsson3, D. Snowden4, B. Cheuk5, C. Reinhard6, A. Zalot7, G. Massara8, H. Mooney9

1Simmons University, USA; 2Aberystwyth University, UK; 3Uppsala University, Sweden; 4The Cynefin Company, UK; 5AstraZeneca, UK; 6Dominican University, USA; 7University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; 8University at Albany, USA; 9Kentucky Department for Library and Archives, USA

Brenda Dervin made a tremendous contribution to both the fields of communication and information science through her Sense-Making Methodology. She was one of the first to advocate for a user-centered perspective in the field and had a tremendous impact on generations of researchers across various disciplines. Almost three years after her passing in December 2022, this panel brings together a diverse range of speakers to celebrate Dervin’s contribution to ASIS&T and to information science. This highly interactive panel will cover various topics ranging from interactions with Dervin to the use of Dervin’s SMM in theory, research, practice, human interaction, and artificial intelligence tools. The panel members have either engaged with Dervin the person, with her Sense-Making Methodology, or both. The session hopes to inspire the audience to use Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology (SMM) in their research and practice.